In Ten Years
by Opapea
Summary: In ten years, the age difference isn't exceedingly obvious - or inappropriate." Future Will/Rachel.


Disclaimer: Not mine/  
Note: Guys, I don't even know. I haven't written (or really read) fanfic in years, and I didn't even ship this pairing until (checks watch) six hours ago. So yeah, this was written during a study break during finals week. Re-read multiple time, but not beta-ed. I knew if I didn't publish it now, I never would. Hope you enjoy - feedback is appreciated. :)

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In ten years, the age difference isn't exceedingly obvious - or inappropriate. Sure 26 and 40 still raises a few eyebrows, but 16 and 30 would have landed him in jail and her in therapy. Well, additional therapy.

He's been divorced for a few years, but the dating pool in Lima isn't exactly full of options. Maybe Emma at one point, but she married Ken, and they moved to Colorado a few years back for some reason or another. He's not positive he remembers why, but that doesn't surprise him - he wouldn't say he's depressed or anything like that, but he definitely doesn't take as much interest in the little things like he used to.

He still coaches Glee, and the kids are pretty good, but they haven't made it past state for years now. He's OK with that, but he'd still be thrilled if he found at least one kid who seemed to have the charisma, boldness, and star-quality that all twelve of kids he took to nationals did.

He's eating lunch in the teacher's lounge, glancing over new music he thinks the kids might be interested in, when he hears two of the teachers discussing the death of one of the members of the school board. He doesn't think much of it until he hears the name Berry; he thinks of Rachel, how she must be feeling (his own dad passed two years ago), and decides to try her old cell phone number, just to say hello.

Honestly, he's not even sure if he'll get a hold of her. She went to Ohio State, transferred to NYU, and last he heard had done a few plays off-Broadway. However, cell phone numbers rarely seem to change, so he gives it a shot.

Surprisingly, he gets a hold of her, and for a while they just catch up.

"He had cancer, so we knew he was going for a while. Still hurts though."  
"No, nothing for a while. The casting directors tell me I have plenty of star potential, obviously, but the part just isn't right."  
"Of course Glee isn't as amazing as it was all those years ago. Frankly, without my leadership and organizational skills, there wouldn't have been a club in the first place. Your work was very important as well."

He takes a day off from school and drives to the temple two towns away. He waves to Brittany, who is now cheer coach at a rival high school; he talks to Finn, who hasn't really stayed in touch with Rachel, but his mom and her dads had bonded during the days of traveling to Glee events; he spends a few moments with Kurt, who found inspiration from the Berry family for many reasons. Though he is happy to see them all, it strikes him as funny that none of them are doing what they thought they would be doing all those years ago. Then again, neither is he.

After the service, Rachel makes her way over to him, thanks him for coming and for the phone call, and hugs him. She seems to be doing well, all things considered, but they only get to chat for a few moments before the family leaves to take the body to the cemetery.

He thinks that's the last he'll see of her; then, a week later, while skimming the soup aisle at the grocery store, he hears a familiar voice tell him hello. They chat next to the creamy tomato and New England clam chowder for nearly an hour before they agree to meet for coffee the next afternoon.

They talk for three hours, about Glee then and Glee now and music and people they used to know and plans that never came to fruition and dreams they still wished they were young enough to pursue.

"You're not that old, Will." Mr. Schu had long been tossed out.  
"I'm forty, Rachel. I'm over the hill, apparently - feels more like a mountain some days. You'll know what I'm talking about some day, but you're still pretty young."  
"Not that young."

They look at each other for a moment or two too long, and retreat back to the safer topic of the latest revival of a classic on Broadway. Sometime after that she tells him of her plans to move back to Ohio, how her still-alive dad wants her to be closer and nothing has been working out in New York anyways. And sometime after that, he finds her hand on top of his, and it isn't as weird as he thought it might be (and yes, he had considered it at some point between his first and second cup of decaf).

Nothing is said, and nothing is done, but she goes back to New York to pack up her things and make arrangements - she's gone for three weeks, and they talk on the phone every day. He would say they're dancing around whatever it is that's working its way up between them, but truth is, for him at least, he's staring it right in the face, and he has no idea what to do about it. Sure, they're both adults, but at some point in the past he was her teacher, and that makes this odd. Not inappropriate - he can make his own decisions, and she is (very obviously) an adult - but he's still uneasy about it. He wonders if her interest in him is still left over from her school-girl crush. He wonders if his interest in her is little more than lust and curiosity.

Either way, when she moves back into her childhood home (only temporary, she says), coffee once a week becomes coffee three times a week; coffee becomes dinner at a restaurant; and dinner at a restaurant becomes dinner at one of their residences. And somewhere along the way, his doubts are cleared away, her (and his) attraction becomes more obvious, they both feel a bit bolder, and they find themselves together in almost every possible way.

People talk, but her dad is OK with him and their relationship, and no one really seems interested anymore once Sue Sylvester gets herself fired for stealing money from the Key Club's lockbox after they cut the Cheerio's budget. They continue their "courtship," as Rachel likes to call it, and for such a strong-willed woman who would do whatever she had to to become a star, she certainly seems to approach their relationship as one of equals. Maybe life in New York knocked her around a bit, but she's not bitter or angry - and once she settles into teaching acting and dancing classes at the local theater, she's as driven as she always was. She's happy - and he hopes he's the cause for at least some of her happiness.

He is, she tells him one night as they are sitting on the couch. He may not be responsible for all of her happiness, but he can take credit for the vast majority. They both smile, warm together underneath a quilt, and though there is no official proposal, they decide sometime that evening to get married.

The ceremony is low-key - so unlike her then, but exactly like them, together. They hold a small reception on the roof of a restaurant, mostly their families and a few people from school. A few former Gleeks are there as well, and none of them make any remarks about the oddity that is their relationship - maybe they're just respectfully keeping their mouths shut, or maybe they don't think it's that odd. Who knows - maybe they picked up on something all those years ago, and are not surprised at all. Will has no idea, but as he takes Rachel's hand and leads her to the edge of the roof she smiles, and he knows that no matter how or when this was supposed to happen, it did. He smiles back, and they stare at the lights of the city.


End file.
